Labour MP Hilary Benn, the chairman of the UK parliament’s Brexit committee, told BBC radio last week that “there are only two ways out of the Brexit crisis that we’ve got: Either parliament agrees a deal or we go back to the British people and ask them to make the choice”.

Sterling fell against a resurgent dollar and London’s Ftse 100 was weighed down as jitters about Britain crashing out of the EU with no deal returned to trouble investors.

Sterling looks set for a volatile run into British elections next week but an argument can be made for markets reacting positively to a defeat for UK prime minister Theresa May’s Conservatives, according to analysts from US banking giant JPMorgan.

The depreciation of sterling in the aftermath of the UK’s Brexit vote coupled with intense competition in the Irish market saw ESB record its weakest half-yearly operating profit in years.

Investors sought out the safe haven of gold as stock markets dipped and tourism shares dropped in the aftermath of the attacks on Brussels.